Maple Leaf Village (Part 2)
The first person ate a fruit offered on the altar in order to use demonic power to paralyze the visitor.
"You've got a knack for this~ To make your wish come true, you have to accept my three requests." His tone became slightly more enthusiastic, full of excitement.
You Youju nodded, her hands behind her back, her smile unwavering, appearing relaxed and content. Zhu Xun, however, clenched her fists tightly, her heart pounding as she braced herself for the tree spirit to make some unknown and unreasonable demand.
"The first requirement is to choose one type of fruit offered on the altar and eat it."
You Youju and Zhu Xun stepped forward together; pears, apples, grapes, and pomegranates were laid out on the table.
In the original text, Chaolan chose an apple, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the choice itself. Perhaps because it wasn't important, he couldn't remember it very clearly.
Seeing that Youju was hesitant, Zhuxun stepped forward and chose pomegranate.
You Youju was torn between apples and pears, but in the end she chose the smaller pear.
He took the pomegranate, took out his dagger, and skillfully cut it open for Zhu Xun, and the crystal-clear pomegranate seeds burst out one by one.
Zhu Xun didn't greedily eat it; he simply picked one up, put it on his tongue, and swallowed it.
You Youju also symbolically cut off a piece of pear and ate it.
The second requirement is to choose a mask.
The tree spirit loves human stories, and the mask it chooses determines the role it will play in the illusion. Because it painstakingly creates its environment and expends most of its power, it can only be severely weakened by breaking through the illusion at the climax of the story.
“Very good, very good, hahahahaha,” the tree spirit’s voice was tender and extremely pleasant: “Please come in.”
You Youju and Zhu Xun exchanged a glance, and You Youju rushed into the tree trunk.
The room was dark, and he could only make out what appeared to be a wooden box in the center. He took a step forward and found that there were indeed three terrifying masks, lifelike masks of a rabbit, a snake, and an eagle.
"Please choose a mask, beautiful lady."
You Yuju felt ashamed; compared to the snake and the eagle, the rabbit was clearly inferior.
I remember that in the original text, Chaolan chose from "flower," "sun," "rain," and "earth," and the three of them thus selected the roles of emperor, strategist, and general. Since I arrived too early, the rules must also be determined on a case-by-case basis.
He picked up the rabbit mask, which felt as soft as real fur. The blood-red eyes even seemed to move slightly. You Youju felt a chill in his heart and replaced the mask with a snake head, waving it in front of the tree demon.
"Please leave, beautiful lady, hehehe." A sinister laugh.
Next was Zhu Xun. He stepped in, glanced around, and went straight to the wooden box.
"Which one did my uncle choose?" The tone was icy.
That eerie laughter rang out again: "Don't ask, don't ask, young master, please make your choice."
Among the rabbit, snake, and eagle, Zhu Xun chose the eagle without hesitation.
He guessed that You Youju wouldn't choose the weakest one and would keep the slightly stronger one for himself, so he resolutely chose the eagle mask. The eagle blinked and was coldly tossed into the box by Zhu Xun.
The third requirement is to perform the play specified by the tree spirit.
The tree spirit hummed a little tune and muttered to itself, "The popular doujinshi these days... Ah, this one will do!"
Youju and Zhuxun exchanged a glance, both looking puzzled. The maple leaves around them rustled, indicating that the tree spirit was quite excited.
"They're all beauties, perfect for this role, perfect for this role!" The tree spirit's voice even trembled with excitement.
"The third requirement is that you perform plays I like. Let's begin."
You Youju stepped forward and said gently, "I wonder what we two should do?"
Tree Spirit: "Hmph, no rush, let's begin now."
After speaking, the branches of the maple tree shot over like ropes, tightly binding the two of them. You Youju was startled: "This is not the plot I am familiar with!" and she and Zhu Xun fainted together.
"Crunch," the sound of dead leaves being stepped on.
The tree spirit was drawn to the sound and looked around where no one was. Suddenly, it became fierce and stabbed its branches toward the source of the sound.
They didn't catch him, but he showed up on his own.
A-Yi originally wanted to go down the mountain, but after thinking it over, he used the spirit stone given to him by You Youju and followed them.
The spirit stone was truly wondrous; the two seemed not to have noticed it along the way, and had even managed to deceive the tree demon.
It was evident that when You Youju and Zhu Xun were tied up, he had the idea of escaping.
"We have to escape quickly, we have to escape quickly!"
Unfortunately, people are more prone to making mistakes when they are in a panic.
Sure enough, the tree demon didn't notice him and tumbled over, throwing the spirit stone away.
"Little mouse, are you here to make a wish too?" That effeminate voice crawled all over A-Yi's body like a snake, slippery, disgusting, and cold.
Then he was pushed by the tree trunk towards the altar. "Please choose one, little mouse."
Ah Yi was so frightened that her teeth chattered and her whole body trembled: "I...I won't make a wish, I went to the wrong place!"
"Hmph." Another light laugh. "Either die, or choose." It was a light, casual tone, but it felt like a poisoned dagger had pierced A-Yi's heart.
Ah Yi felt his legs were about to give way. He wiped away his tears, picked up the apple, and took a bite.
The apples, sweet as honey, were something he could never have imagined, yet in this situation they tasted like wax, like a last meal before his execution.
"Please come in." The door opened.
He walked into the darkness, crying, and peered into the box, trembling. He saw a rabbit head the size of a human face winking at him.
Well, that's it. I was just a little weak in the legs, but now I'm sitting on the ground and can't get up.
"Oh dear, why are you crying?" A lamp, entangled in tree branches, came closer, illuminating Ah Yi's crying face.
Ah Yi felt that if he were scared again, he would wet his pants. Now that he was about to die, he couldn't even be at peace.
"Oh? So you're together? Perfect timing, you can go along, hehe." These were the last words A-Yi heard, because he too had entered the illusion.
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